say its not dead!
 

my 1984 928 auto had a mysterious coolant leak..after chasing it and replacing reservoir w/ new cap it became worse. engine began sputtering intermittently..checking all spark plugs i found coolant on one plug..drivers side rear bank..and COOLANT IN ENGINE OIL. i tried a few of the over the counter magic potions to stop head gasket leaks..no good. engine was driven a bit with water in oil unknowingly. does this sound like a blown head gasket?? can this allow oil and coolant to mix? this one piston is now sounding strange and engine wont idle and blows white steam smoke from exhaust.... do i still have a chance to save her? she was run probably 10 hours with water in oil.. :(

Sorry, but that sounds pretty textbook for a blown head gasket.... :(

Not an impossible task, if you do your own mechanical work, or have some good friends who do - but pricey to take it to the shop to have it done.

How many miles on the car? How long since your last timing belt and water pump service?

Probably a good time to get it ALL done.

thanx Kuehjo, a blown head gasket sounds alright to me. i have the ability to do it but have never gone that far into the engine before! i replaced belt a few months ago as well as water pump..thats all good. I'm worried about any damage to the cylinder walls or bearings from water intrusion..oh about 125,000..odometer was out for a bit...

is Mmerlin and Danglerb, harbourman still on here? they know it all!!

So you want them to tell you it's a blown head gasket too? ;)

Yes!! Lol ... i want someone to set me on there lap and tell me everythings going to be alright.. LOL :0

but really..im wondering about bearing and cylinder damage from water intrusion..i dont want to spend hours and $$ on head gaskets to find everything else is shot too!

yeah, I'd want some reassurance too. But it all depends how much water how long it was run. Is it knocking?.. if not your probably ok. but let's let one of them guess too.

it will be okay http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/pftroest.gif

Pete R..it dosent want to idle properly...the one piston with water intrusion knocks a little..intermittently..but the whole darn thing is off balance now..could just be compression blowing out broken gasket..ran it unknowingly with water in oil for about 10 hours maybe??-with maybe 1/2 gallon water? ouch.. so hard to tell whats wrong in there unless youre a seasoned 928 guy..me 6 years..never any internal problems before.

IT's NOT DEAD IT's Damaged :
Heat and water in the bearings is your major Enemy.
If you Got the Motor Hot Hot Hot could have Collapsed a piston
If enough Water went through the Bearings / Crankshaft then you Have damage .
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Most Likely you have some damage and will see low Oil Pressure after replacing the head gaskets when the Motor is completely warmed up > Piston May Knock .
Only real way to tell is to disassemble the motor and mic everything.
I would say with a lot of experience the missing is spark Plug Misfire due to water in cylinders.
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As It's a High performance Engine With a Aluminum Block Head Gasket damage Means More then just the Gasket often . Galvanic Corrosion can be a issue ( That's Why you need a Aluminum friendly Anti Freeze in such Motors ) Block Wear, Deck Height , The Cylinder Coating .
On and On >> 928 like Distilled Water Mixed with The Right Anti Freeze related to such issues .
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Another Way is to Pull the top Down * Bad side first * Inspect the Block Head gasket Area Very Close * Straight Edge the Block for wear Also the Cylinder . If all Looks Good throw a Set ( not one) of Head gaskets on it and all other top End related gaskets > Some Not so costly Oil and Filter and Run it a Hour to Bake out the rest of the Water ( under 3 K Revs ) Then change the Oil again and Filter . and see how it works >> Should be able to do all that for a few Hundred .
Not really Gambling if The block & Cylinder Looks Good it is good but have someone who know what they are looking at look with you .

How does the oil look?? Coolant in oil will cause bearing failure over heating , etc. Does it look like cream??? Hope not.

Don't run the engine any more until you fix the problem.

it could also be a damaged oil cooler in conjunction with the blown HG
first things first drain the oil out ASAP drain the coolant out ASAP ,
add some WD40 to the cylinders and turn the engine over.
remove the radiator and have the oil cooler tested, if it comes back good then remove the engine and go for teardown,
have the heads magnafluxed inspect the rod bearings if any are damaged then remove the girdle and inspect the main bearings

The longer I hang around these cars the more I think its wise to pull the engine at the start, do the heads, motor mounts, etc etc. and get it all behind you.

...and don't even think of removing the head while the engine is in the car. I was able to remove mine but there was no way I see to put it back on and do proper torque. I've "heard" it's been done but I don't believe it from what I saw personally. No pics then it's all hearsay to me.

Eventhough your going to be pulling the heads off anyways, but you could get one of those small cameras to see inside your cylinder. I just saw one at Costco yesterday. I agree with Pete, aluminum and Merlin, do what they say. Weird knocking noise will tell you it moved to a bearing but I doubt that happened. Cylinder Wall issue, I also doubt this too. Drain all the Oil and Coolant, but make sure to put some sort of lube in those cylinders or at least the affected one with WD40 or I would personally put some of that Marvel Mystery Oil. This will keep the cylinder walls from getting damaged by the Coolant Moisture until you can break it down.

yeah..GREAT TO SEE YOU GUYS STILL HERE..MP DANO..Danglerb, Harborman,Mmerlin, Aluminum..OK so you all think its head gasket as well?? heres some more info...thank goodness the engine NEVER overheated...oil pressure still holding @ 5...oil i run is 50 W...oil still looked good but swirls of water...the oil strainer which i converted to an oil catch can was milky. no engine oil cooler on my automatic..just for the tranny built into the radiator. the engine was run only about 1 hours w/ the major water intrusion..I dropped all the oil and tried that K&W head gasket repair...after that the water intrusion into oil seemed to stop or really slow down..but still coming into the piston. I guess i was doing something right..adding MM OIL into the cylinder after every test. the car idled and ran well until i started messing with the additives..i think it made part of the gasket worse as now she sounds like a tractor! piston has intermittent knock..doesn't seem to be consistent. I read in manuals that heads can be removed without removing engine..MpDano makes a good point..how do you manage to get them back on flush and torque with that little of room? perhaps i shouldn't open that can of worms? everything was pretty kosher until i put a new reservoir cap on..i think the extra pressure put too much pressure on the gaskets?

Yup, that sounds right. If you head gasket is already weak, by putting more pressure on it will just make it worse. If your going to have the engine out anyways, might as well attack the bearings while it's out. This is going to be a sucky job but well worth it in the end. Don't give up on your "S."

MP DANO i shoulda never F'ed with the pressure! but i was loosing coolant and it seemed to be coming from the res cap. I dont have the equipment to remove my engine. I have good mechanic skills..but this would be the biggest job ive done yet. I would have to remove heads with engine in car..and what other things are gonna pop up when i open this can of worms? broken head bolts? valve tappets falling out when i remove cam tower? gasket stuck to block and rips apart? im worried about doing more damage to it. Is it normal for problems to occur in the rear banks? seems to always happen back there..oil leaks..fuel leaks..etc..almost always in the rear banks.

Your head gasket was going, the extra pressure only speeded up the inevitable. As far as opening up a can of worms and making it worse... the motors no good now right? hard to make it worse :) I'd also want to get all the headgasket repair stuff out of there before it plugs something important.

Pete R i flushed it out twice..only water in there now and fresh oil. the additives with particulates were flushed out. I see alot of good testimonials from customers and personal friend..a mechanic whos been in business for 50 years about "blue Devil" head gasket repair. it is a liquid..no particulates. the mechanic said hes seen it seal up a car that was blowing water out the pipes. supposed to seal only "hot spots" or "blow outs" and not clog passages or radiators like the products w/ particulates. Also seen you tube videos of it working. what do you all think about one last try with "blue Devil" before tearing into the engine? $60 for 32 oz.

It sounds like the horse has left the barn with the head gasket. I have never seen anything like that work effectively for very long but I have no experience with that product. You actually seem to have 2 holes, one into the water jacket and another into the oil galley, or one big hole. I would normally say one more shot can't hurt but your water is mixing with oil and then being pumped though the system, which any additional running could put more parts at risk. If it was just the water part I would say go for it but not in this case.